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Sunday, February 14, 2016

UK: Israeli Airbnb guest refused by British host because of citizenship

An Israeli man said a British Airbnb host refused to rent an apartment
to him because, the host said, Israelis don’t respect “basic human
rights.”

Ben Kelmer, a Tel Aviv photographer, reserved a London
apartment for a week in March through the online company, which has come
under fire recently for listing properties in West Bank settlements. In
some cases, the listings indicate that the properties are in Israel
proper.

When Kelmer contacted the host with a question about
public transportation, the host said he could not “even consider hosting
you,” the UK’s Jewish News reported.

“This is how the world
pictures you: aggressive settlers occupying land, destroying houses. In a
few words: not respecting basic human rights,” the message said. “On
that basis, I just cannot even consider hosting you, even if you pay me
millions.”Kelmer posted to Airbnb’s Facebook page: “We were
served a healthy dose of Grade A, European bigotry and discrimination at
its finest, poorly masked as so-called, socially-conscious political
protest of the worst, most prejudiced kind, that is strictly reserved to
Israelis.”